Frerotte Goes From Redskins to the Lions

Gus Frerotte, a free-agent quarterback who spent the past five seasons with the Washington Redskins, signed with the Detroit Lions on Wednesday as a backup to starter Charlie Batch.

Terms were not disclosed.

Frerotte, 27, who went to the Pro Bowl for Washington in 1996, was released by the Redskins last month. The Redskins avoided paying him a $1.25-million roster bonus.

At Washington, where he was a seventh-round draft choice in 1994 from Tulsa, he started 45 games, including one last season when he lost his starting job to Trent Green.

Over his career, Frerotte was 744 of 1,422 for 9,769 yards and 48 touchdowns.

The Redskins, meanwhile, re-signed veteran quarterback Casey Weldon, who will be the backup to starter Brad Johnson this season.

*

A day after seemingly changing his mind about leaving the Arizona Cardinals, tackle Lomas Brown, 26, signed a three-year, $10.75-million contract with the Cleveland Browns. The deal included a $3-million signing bonus.

In other moves, the Browns acquired a ninth former San Francisco 49er by signing free-agent defensive back Marquez Pope, 28.

Terms were not disclosed for Pope, who rejoins Brown President Carmen Policy and Director of Football Operations Dwight Clark, who held the same roles in San Francisco.

*

The Philadelphia Eagles filled a defensive need for the first time in free agency, signing tackle Mark Wheeler to a four-year contract. Terms of the contract were not announced.

Officials hope Wheeler, who spent the last three seasons in New England, will bolster a defense that gave up an average of 4.6 yards per running play in 1998, ranking 27th in the NFL.

*

The Indianapolis Colts signed backup quarterback Stoney Case to a two-year, $2-million contract. Case didn’t play last season as Arizona’s third-string quarterback. . . . The Tennessee Titans agreed to terms on a multiyear contract with free-agent defensive tackle Jason Fisk, 26, who was a backup to all-pros John Randle and Jerry Ball in Minnesota. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Jurisprudence

Boxing promoter Don King agreed in New York to share proceeds from super-lightweight boxer Miguel Angel Gonzalez’s next four bouts with rival promoter Dan Goossen in a deal that ends a civil trial and puts U.S. District Judge Milton Pollack in the unusual position of monitoring the pact.

Retired heavyweight Tommy Morrison failed to appear on a drunken driving charge in Tulsa, Okla., because he is serving time in a drug treatment facility under another court’s order, his attorney said. . . . Mike Webster, the Pittsburgh Steeler Hall of Fame center charged last week with forging prescriptions at a pharmacy in Rochester, Pa., was again charged Tuesday with presenting bogus prescriptions for Ritalin at three pharmacies in Center Township, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. . . . Eight students injured by spectators celebrating a Wisconsin football victory over Michigan in 1993 cannot sue university officials, the state Supreme Court ruled in Madison, Wis.

John T. Lundy, a former president of Kentucky’s famed Calumet Farms, has been arrested on charges of bribing a Houston bank to secure loans for his then-failing thoroughbred stable.

Tennis

Defending champion Andre Agassi brushed aside Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina, 6-2, 6-0, at Scottsdale, Ariz., to advance to the quarterfinals of the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic.

Agassi, seeded third and ranked ninth in the world, faces a more difficult test Friday against Cedric Pioline. The Frenchman, ranked 20th on the ATP Tour computer, beat Andrew Ilie of Australia, 6-1, 6-2.

Lleyton Hewitt, 18, surprised Australian countryman and second-seeded Patrick Rafter, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Hewitt, reaching his third quarterfinal this season, next will play Jerome Golmard of France, who advanced when Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador retired.

Switzerland’s top-seeded Marc Rosset, the fast carpet suiting his power game, beat Argentina’s Guillermo Canas, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the opening round of $240,000 Copenhagen Open in Denmark.

Miscellany

Making his first start since finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last Nov. 7, Victory Gallop won as expected at Gulfstream Park, handily beating his four rivals in a $44,000 allowance race. Ridden by Jerry Bailey for the first time for the Prestonwood Farm and trainer Elliott Walden, the 4-year-old son of Cryptoclearance completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 4/5.

Despite going hundreds of miles out of the way to rescue Frenchwoman Isabelle Autissier, Italy’s Giovanni Soldini won the third leg of the Around Alone solo sailing race aboard the 60-foot boat FILA near Punta Del Este, Uruguay. . . . Tom McCollister, 61, a veteran of 30 years as a sportswriter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was killed in an automobile accident near his home in Lilburn, Ga., on Monday. “T-Mac,” as he was known to golfers, race drivers and fellow writers, had retired from daily coverage of Winston Cup racing last November to work in a regional bureau.